The present invention relates to an insufflation device for endoscopic interventions.
Upon performing endoscopic interventions in animal or human body cavities, it is necessary, for example, in the case of a laparoscopic intervention, to lift the abdominal integument off the internal organs by insufflation of an appropriate gas, so that an unobstructed space is thereby produced for the instruments, which are to be introduced into the abdominal space. In order that a constant pressure, as possible, may be obtained in the body cavity during the intervention, use is made, for example, of an insufflation device according to the German Patent specification No. 30 00 218. In the case of this device, the gas is fed into the body cavity from a gas container, via an intermediate container, an expansion valve, a shut-off valve, a pressure gauge and a flow indicator, and a feed pipe with a cannula which transpierces the abdominal integument.
If other supplemental devices are utilized in the known insufflation systems, excessive pressure may arise very quickly in the body cavity in particular circumstances. These excessive pressures can be caused by faulty operation or handling. These excessive pressures may represent a considerable risk to the patient. Protection against such unacceptable increases or rises in the pressure beyond a specified level is either not available in the known insufflation devices or is only available to an adequate extent.
Another disadvantage of the known insufflation devices is that a pressure drop within the body cavity, as a result of incurring a loss of gas, is detected and made up by the system only after a definite bottom threshold value was reached. The pressure is not kept constant in the abdominal cavity, but is merely maintained to an insufficient degree and continuously fluctuates back and forth between the upper and lower limiting values.
In addition, in the known devices, it has been found impossible to detect prevailing faulty operations by a test on the device.